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Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Recycling has just got a whole lot easier

It’s no secret that I care a great deal about the
environment and like so many other residents across the county I recycle
wherever I can. The recycling bins have, I am pleased to say, become very well
used over the years. The result being that our recycling rate is now just over
41%, but there is a national target of 50% recycling by 2020, so more has to be
done.

One comment that I often receive when I am out and about is
‘why can’t we recycle pots, tubs and trays’, and I understand this frustration.
In West Sussex we wanted to be sure there were secure markets available for any
plastics we collected and that we can be certain those plastics will be
recycled. So I’m really pleased to announce that from Wednesday 1 April, all
West Sussex households will be able to recycle household plastic like pots,
tubs and trays in their recycling bin.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion over items that
can be recycled and those that can’t. By opening up recycling to more plastic
items, it will be a lot easier for everyone.

So from 1 April, all those yogurt pots, cream pots, ready
meal trays, ice cream tubs and fruit and vegetable trays can go straight in the
recycling bin – along with paper, bottles, tins and jars, making life a little
simpler and easier.

This is good news for West Sussex for a number of reasons. With
this change, recycling levels should see an increase of around 4,000 tonnes a
year. This should push our recycling levels as a county to just over 42%, so getting
a little nearer to the 2020 target, and will mean 4,000 less tonnes of items
going to landfill.

And from a financial point of view it makes sense. Waste
disposal is expensive and it is far more cost effective to send materials for
sorting and then on for recycling than it is to dispose of rubbish to landfill.
We will see a reduction in landfill tax payments, currently these stand at £82
per tonne of waste delivered to landfill. In these tight financial times any
saving is to be welcomed.

By making plastics easier to recycle for residents, we hope
everyone will be encouraged to recycle more. Increased quantities of good
quality recycling conserves valuable resources, provides better value for money
than disposal and also has a much lower carbon footprint than other forms of
waste treatment and disposal. The better the quality of the materials
collected, then the better value for money the service provides. That’s why
it’s so important to have recycling clean, dry and loose in your bins.

But just as a reminder, there are some plastics which cannot
be recycled. We’re not able to accept garden plastics such as seed trays or
plant pots, plastic bottle tops or plastic bags. And please also make sure that
all recycled items are clean, dry and loose when you put them in your recycling
bin.

You can find out more about the changes and what items can
or can’t be recycled at the Recycle for West Sussex website.